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Transferred from: Beijing Business Daily

Nuotai Biotech (688076), a star weight loss drug semaglutide API company, wants to enter the Middle East and Africa markets. On April 10, Nuotai Biotech announced that the company and Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar PSC) (hereinafter referred to as "Julphar"), a well-known pharmaceutical company in the Middle East, announced that they had reached a strategic cooperation and would reach relevant agreements with Julphar on the supply of semaglutide APIs in 22 countries in the Middle East and Africa, including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. In the first half of 2024, the company's revenue from foreign regions accounted for 56.38%. From ninety percent of the revenue from China to more than half of the revenue from overseas regions, in recent years, the overseas layout of Nuotai Biotech has been accelerating. In addition, benefiting from the popularity of semaglutide, Nuotai Bio's performance has also increased significantly since 2024, and its net profit in the first quarter of this year is expected to increase by more than ninety percent year-on-year.

Sold to the Middle East and Africa

According to the announcement of Nuotai Biotechnology, the company and Julphar, a pharmaceutical company in the Middle East, announced that it has reached a strategic cooperation, and the company will reach relevant agreements with Julphar on the supply of semaglutide APIs in 22 countries in the Middle East and Africa, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, etc., during which the cooperation period is ten years from the signing of the final agreement.

Specifically, the Company will provide Julphar with the necessary semaglutide API documents and information for quality research and registration. The Company will provide on-site technology transfer and technical support to Julphar to resolve any technical issues that arise during registration or production. The parties agreed that the Company shall provide Julphar with a continuous and uninterrupted supply of semaglutide APIs, and that Julphar shall give priority to the procurement of semaglutide APIs from the Company during the cooperation period.

Founded in 1980, Julphar is one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the Middle East and Africa and one of the world's leading insulin manufacturers, with 3,400 employees worldwide and operations in more than 30 countries and regions on five continents.

Nuotai Biotech said that through this strategic cooperation, the company will use Julphar's commercial sales strength in the Middle East and Africa to enter the potential market in the Middle East and Africa. This overseas expansion into the Middle East and Africa market marks that the company's GLP-1 field strength and R&D capabilities have been internationally recognized again, demonstrates the commercial cooperation ability of Nuotai Biotech with global coverage, and is a milestone for the company's business development achievements outside Europe and the United States, and is an important embodiment of the company's technological advantages to the nth power.

Stimulated by this news, on April 10, Nuotai Biotech once rose more than 7% intraday, and finally closed up 4.3% to close at 50 yuan per share, with a total market value of 10.99 billion yuan.

Deng Yong, director of the Health Rule of Law Research and Innovation Transformation Center of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that Nuotai Biotech will enter the market of 22 countries in the Middle East and Africa, which greatly expands the market scope and brings more sales opportunities for semaglutide APIs and related products, which will help improve the company's revenue and profits.

Overseas revenue accounted for more than half

Nuotai Biotech, which strives to develop overseas markets, will account for more than half of its overseas revenue in the first half of 2024.

According to the company's 2024 semi-annual report, in the first half of 2024, Nuotai Bio's operating income from foreign regions will be about 469 million yuan, accounting for 56.38% of operating income.

Oriental Fortune shows that in 2015, the proportion of sales of Nuotai Bio from abroad was only 0.14%. Subsequently, it began to continuously carry out the layout of overseas markets. According to the company's 2024 semi-annual report, in the European market, the company has cooperated with a number of leading generic drug companies in oral semaglutide and tirpatide APIs; In the North American market, it reached the cooperation of liraglutide preparations in the US market API, and newly expanded the first animal innovative drug peptide CDMO project; In the South American market, it signed a strategic cooperation agreement on semaglutide preparations and reached a cooperation agreement on the first generic marketing API of liraglutide preparations; In the Indian market, it has reached cooperation with leading generic drug companies on the global marketing of liraglutide preparations, and signed and promoted a number of oligonucleotide CDMO services.

At present, the company's peptide APIs have been sold to overseas markets such as the United States, Europe, India, Canada, etc., and the main customers include Krka, Cipla, Apotex, Chemo, Teva, Dr. Reddy, Puluo Pharmaceutical and other well-known pharmaceutical companies at home and abroad to support the research and development or registration application of their preparations.

Zhang Xinyuan, a senior enterprise strategic management consulting expert and head of the research department of the domestic consulting agency Kefangde Think Tank, said that with the deepening of globalization, the opportunities and business potential of the international market are increasing.

Net profit increased significantly in the first quarter

Nuotai Biotech, which has received the explosive dividend of semaglutide, has seen a significant increase in performance.

According to the preliminary calculation of the financial department, the attributable net profit in the first quarter of 2025 is expected to be 130 million to 170 million yuan, an increase of 63.6732 million to 103.6732 million yuan compared with the same period last year (statutory disclosure data), an increase of 96%-156% year-on-year.

In response to the reasons for the change in performance, Nuotai Biotech said that the company gave full play to the competitive advantages of the interdisciplinary and international BD team, continued to expand the scale of high-quality customers, and the company's sales revenue of peptide APIs achieved great growth during the reporting period.

For the whole year of 2024, the net profit of Nuotai Biotech will also increase significantly. According to the company's 2024 performance report, in 2024, the company will achieve operating income of 1.625 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 57.19%; The attributable net profit was 401 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 145.94%.

It is worth mentioning that Zhao Dezhong, one of the actual controllers of Nuotai Biotech and the company, is under investigation by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. In October 2024, Nuotai Biotech announced that Zhao Dezhong, one of the company and one of the actual controllers, recently received the "Notice of Case Filing" from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. According to the Notice of Case Filing, the China Securities Regulatory Commission decided to file the case in accordance with the Securities Law of the People's Republic of China, the Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations.

At that time, Nuotai Biotech said that after the company's self-inspection, this case may involve the company's 2021 technology transfer related matters. Up to now, Nuotai Biotech has not disclosed the latest progress of this case. At the end of March this year, Nuotai Biotech replied on the investor interactive platform that if there is any follow-up investigation progress, the company will disclose it in a timely manner in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

In response to the company's related questions, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily sent an interview letter to Nuotai Biotechnology, but as of press time, no reply from the company has been received.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Ding Ning